Chapter 46: The Opponent for the Final Match of the Selection Tournament!

December 25, 2012.

Inside the NXG underground training room in Jin Ling City.

Jiang Ming sat in the mid-lane player position for the first time ever, while the team's original mid-laner, yihan, pushed over a stool and sat behind everyone to act as a spectator.

LPL pre-season selection, server supremacy tournament!

The NXG team drew the PE team as their opponent for the final match.

Facing a team that split from WE and secured second place and first place respectively in the spring and summer seasons of the 2013 LPL in his previous life, Jiang Ming did not continue to sit safely on the fishing platform; instead, he chose to take the field actively, bringing his own team to clash with the opponent to test the true level of NXG currently and determine exactly which tier of the LPL they could rank in.

The PE team's roster consisted of manager smallorc (Little Beast), top-laner Aluka, mid-laner Van, jungler Ziv, bot-laner Devil, support Sicca, and data analyst cici.

Yes, a 2013 LOL team actually had a data analyst equipped.

Regardless of cici's (Little Watermelon) skill level, the mere existence of the data analyst position, rather than having hero BP decided entirely by the players themselves, meant PE was already a large step ahead of other LPL teams.

Many members of the PE team were faces familiar to players in later eras.

Top-laner Aluka, the first Qiu Ming Shan Car God in veteran players' memories, who at the IEM tournament relied on the reworked Sion to crash into and topple the arrogant Tiger team, which was the WE team finishing last in that year's league, and was also the root cause of the entire LPL's inflation in 2015.

Besides that, the bot-lane duo were also old acquaintances.

Support Sicca, ADC Nami; the former, as a victim of the first-generation contract, is a core member of the future De Yun Se duo, with quite profound game understanding.

ADC Nami, the S4 world's number one AD officially crowned by Riot, and also a victim of the first-generation Beef Noodles!

"Focus your attention, perk up, the PE players have formidable individual strength; for this final match, I need you to bring your full strength to play."

During the preparation phase, Jiang Ming tapped the team players; the five consecutive wins in the server supremacy tournament had made the few young people somewhat infected with impetuosity.

"Understood!"

Naturally, the few dared not take this lightly; not only was Jiang Ming himself the strongest member of the team, but he also held the identity of the owner right there; the four little ones were deeply afraid that if they nodded too slowly, they would be locked in as optimization targets before entering the LPL.

A team as good as NXG, if you really got fired, where would you go to find another?

……

At the same time, inside the PE team room after entering the match lobby.

Sicca looked at the NXG-prefixed IDs listed on the other side and felt his scalp go numb.

"Aiyo, how did we end up meeting this bunch of perverts from NXG in the final match?"

"It's normal for us, with four wins and one loss, to be matched against a team with five wins," jungler Ziv said, still not realizing the severity of the problem.

Nami, with extra-long bangs, adjusted his runes while speaking: "The opposing NXG is very strong; I ranked against their bot lane before; their Fundamentals are extremely solid, and they simply don't tilt."

"They are also fierce in teamfights; that AD named sorry, whenever he duo-queues with the support in teamfights, it's rare for the top or jungle to be able to engage him; his playstyle is very similar to Smile's."

"Hehe Sicca, you've met your match today; NXG's support, whether in vision or engaging, has better data than you," analyst CiCi stood behind Sicca, resting on his shoulder and laughing.

"Hey, I'm saying!" Manager Little Beast looked resentful, "Have you forgotten someone?"

Little Beast pointed his right finger at the screen, "Today, NXG's mid-laner is JM himself coming to play."

"In last week's national server summit battle, four people from WE were bloodily crushed by this guy."

Nami: "!!!"

Sicca: "???"

Aluka: "……"

"Damn!!!"

In an instant, an incredibly sharp explosion sound erupted from the PE team training room.

They really hadn't expected that a streamer with an average viewership exceeding one hundred thousand, an online shop owner earning millions annually, a top graduate of Jin Ling University, and the current owner of the NXG team would suddenly take the field to play the match himself?

……

Ding!

Accompanied by a piece of old-fashioned background music, the referee pulled both teams into the BP page once again without any preparation.

Blue side PE, purple side NXG!

"Twisted Fate... feels unnecessary to ban now, hasn't the global flow been nerfed into what shape?"

Entering the match, top-laner Song Yuan felt slightly less nervous and proactively asked his own boss for an opinion.

"Pang Ran, what do you think?" Jiang Ming did not give a direct answer but instead looked at the support position, Pang Ran.

Probably because nutrition wasn't adequate at home in the past, Little Pang was the shortest among everyone, yet he was the most agile-minded of the five NXG team members.

Jiang Ming consciously cultivated him towards the role of team brain and future team coach; this way, even if he couldn't achieve results as a professional player in the future, he would have a path to follow.

"I think we still have to ban it!" Pang Ran did not think for too long, his tone firm.

"State your reasons."

"First, PE originated from WE and has certain insights into the global flow tactic; although the current version update has assassins running rampant..." Pang Ran glanced at Jiang Ming, seeing the other still maintain an encouraging expression, relaxed a bit, and continued: "From the perspective of individual strength, allowing Twisted Fate poses no threat to us; Brother Ming, you taking an assassin can basically achieve comprehensive suppression against Twisted Fate, but considering the team as a whole, without detailed data on the opposing team as a reference, BP should not take risks."

"Thoughtful consideration."

Jiang Ming added, "Since the blue side can pick Zed first, and the red side cannot consider a mage like Twisted Fate which has a lane disadvantage, our first ban can serve as a smokescreen for the opponent."

In fact, PE was also somewhat confused by NXG's ban on Twisted Fate.

"Wait, did NXG slip up?"

"Why did they ban Twisted Fate!"

You purple side have a counter position, and at the same time, you have the number one Zed in the national server stationed in mid-lane, yet you turn around and ban Twisted Fate, which is the ultimate counter to Zed.

Are you playing?

Sicca pondered for two seconds, "Ignore them; we ban what we want to ban. NXG is a team with very strong tempo; if we want to win, we must strengthen the early game; playing a late-game against them gives us zero chance."

"Uh, actually, in the previous matches of the server supremacy tournament, NXG didn't let their opponents drag into the late game either."

"Early game, then, Zed is very suitable; Van, how about you take Zed in the first pick?"

"Holy crap, please spare me; you know JM's methods; Zed vs. Lee Sin, Lee Sin vs. Zed, in the national server ranking, he has educated countless high-score players both ways."

"Aiyo, be confident; our qualification spot is already confirmed, there is no pressure of winning or losing; perhaps you can even overturn JM."

"..."

Van's gaze drifted; spurred on by his teammates, his mind, previously devoid of any idea, suddenly came alive.

Soon, both sides had finished banning their three heroes each.

Blue side PE banned: Tristana, Orianna, Zyra.

Red side NXG banned: Twisted Fate, Thresh, Kayle!